According to a January 31 announcement from the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, “The Untouchables” (the American remake of the French award-winning global blockbuster) will be filmed in Philly, and a local casting agency is already looking for extras in that area. Currently, men and women of all ethnicities, aged 18 to 70, are needed through March. To see the most recent casting calls, go to Herry-Loftus Casting’s Facebook page.
In addition, star Kevin Hart paid tribute to the beginning of production with an Instagram post of himself and co-stars, Bryan Cranston and Nicole Kidman, as well as director Neil Burger, and producer Jason Blumenthal at a table read for the highly anticipated project (photo above).
So it’s official! Add this one to Kevin Hart’s calendar of upcoming film releases.
In 2014, two years after the initial announcement of The Weinstein Company’s acquisition of USA remake rights to the French award-winning global blockbuster, various French media sites reported that Kevin Hart had been cast in the American remake of “Intouchables” (released as “The Intouchables” here in the States), taking over the role that helped make Omar Sy an international star. It’s also a role for which Sy won the Cesar (the French equivalent of the Oscars) in 2012, for Best Actor.
It was rumored at the time that Hart would co-star opposite the previously cast Colin Firth (playing the part originated in the French film by Francois Cluzet), in a film that tells the story of a relationship between a wealthy white aristocrat who becomes a quadriplegic after a paragliding accident, and the young “street-tough” black man he hires to take care of him.
According to French news sites like Allocine, one-half of the director pair that helmed the original French film, Olivier Nakache, dropped the news of Hart’s casting on a French radio program, Radio Shalom, in October 2014.
None of this was confirmed by the studio however.
Skip ahead 2 years, to March of last year, when it was announced that Bryan Cranston (no longer Colin Firth) and Kevin Hart were “in talks” to star in the remake, which Simon Curtis was attached to direct. It wasn’t clear whether Hart had always been “in talks,” or was initially attached 3 years ago (as summarized above), and may have had to drop out for one reason or another, only to return to take another shot at it.
Five months after the announcement of Hart and Cranston being “in talks,” the pair was officially announced by the studio as being on-board to star in the film, and Simon Curtis had been replaced by Neil Burger in the director’s chair.
But Hart’s casting shouldn’t be much of a surprise. It’s a role that plays to his strengths as a comedic actor, and he’s kind of *hot* right now, with box office hit, after hit, over the last 5 years, from stand-up comedy specials, to lead roles in various feature films, and also some TV work.
How the original French film (which was inspired by a true story) will be remade for an American audience, remains to be seen. When the remake was first announced 4 years ago, in an interview with Elvis Mitchell, Harvey Weinstein, when asked what his approach would be with regards to recreating Omar Sy’s character (who’s Senegalese) for American audiences, versus the real life man he played in the film, who is Algerian, the conversation dove into matters of immigration as experienced in France, compared to the USA, and how all of that will factor into the USA remake.
Here’s that segment of their conversation:
— HARVEY: “Originally, the intention was to have a black actor do it, but you talk about immigration, and the whole Latino thing that’s happening right now, it’s opened up our eyes, and obviously there’s an explosion of thought.”
He then went on to talk about the unreliability of the Republicans on the immigration issue here in the USA, before Elvis jumped back in with this:
ELVIS: “In that way it could be a political film… the president decided to grant special status to people who live in this country… it felt like it could be a way into the story that you never thought about.”
Of course this conversation was had while Obama was still president. The story could suddenly take on an entirely different meaning under a President Trump.
Harvey agreed with Mitchell, adding what he felt was a misunderstanding we here in the USA had about the French film – essentially that we didn’t get it, and we were looking at it through American eyes, if you will, losing the message of the film in the process; one that was embraced not only in France, but all over the world.
I mention all this because of what has become a central issue here in the USA recently – immigration, broadly speaking, as I’m sure you’re all aware of.
In the real-life story the film is based on, the character played by Omar Sy – Abdel Sellou – is Algerian. But they went with the Senegalese Sy in the French film. Omar Sy himself said that the Stateside equivalent of the relationship between the countries that the two men in the original film/real life are from, would be akin to the relationship between the USA and Mexico; so the character he plays in the original film should really be played by a Mexican actor in the Hollywood/Weinstein Company remake – if they want to be 100% authentic, as Omar Sy suggested.
Read our interview with Omar Cy (here) for more.
At the time, we felt that Harvey’s answers gave us a lot to consider in terms of the remake, and a closer look was warranted. But now that Hart is indeed going to play the role originated by Omar Sy, let’s see how Harvey runs with this remake and if an America under a Trump administration has any influence on how the story unfolds; I can only assume that Hart is playing a black American man. Weinstein did say in the interview that they originally planned to cast a black (African American) actor, and but weren’t immediately certain of that.
Let’s see if Mitchell’s suggestion that the remake could be a “political film,” with some aspect of the immigration debate incorporated (or as Weinstein put it “the whole Latino thing”), is indeed worked into the story somehow, with Hart now involved. There are after all Latinos of African descent, so he could very well be playing a black Latino man.
It was previously rumored that Jamie Foxx, Chris Rock and Idris Elba were all on the short list of actors being considered to play the lead role, in what would have been a film directed by Paul Feig. None of that was confirmed by Harvey, however.
Story and character specifics for the remake – which will be titled “The Untouchables”; not to be confused with the 1987 Brian De Palma crime drama – have been kept mostly underwraps. A Bryan Cranston/Kevin Hart pairing doesn’t immediately register. Although maybe Weinstein might be going for something less comedic and actually more dramatic, giving Hart atypical material to work with here, and a potential awards season run for the film, especially with Cranston attached. After all, the original French film was a multiple award winner for Omar Sy, picking up France’s highest acting honors for his performance.
Below is the trailer for the original French film, which is available on various home video formats in the USA. Catch it before the American remake.
